Hebrews chapter 8 is our text, and we're even going to, time permitting, we're even going to look into chapter 9 a little later. Listen carefully as I read God's word. The point of what we're saying is this. We do have such a high priest who sat down at the right hand of the throne of the Magician heaven, and who serves in the sanctuary the true tabernacle set up by the Lord, not man. Every high priest is appointed to offer both gifts and sacrifices, and so it was necessary for this one also to have something to offer. If he were on earth, he would not be a priest. For there are already men who offer the gifts prescribed by the law. They serve at a sanctuary that is a copy and a shadow of what is in heaven. That is why Moses was warned when he was about to build the tabernacle. See to it that you make everything according to the pattern shown you on the mountain. But the ministry Jesus has received is as superior to theirs as the covenant of which he is mediator is superior to the old one, and it's founded on better promises. For if there had been nothing wrong with that first covenant, no place would have been sought for another, but God found fault with the people and said the time is coming declares the Lord when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah. It will not be like the covenant I made with their forefathers when I took them by the hand to lead them out of Egypt because they did not remain faithful to my covenant, and I turned away from them declares the Lord. This is the covenant I will make with the house of Israel after that time declares the Lord. I will put my laws in their minds and write them on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people. No longer will a man teach his neighbor, or a man his brother, saying know the Lord because they will all know me from the least of them to the greatest, for I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more. By calling this covenant new, he has made the first one obsolete, and what is obsolete and aging will soon disappear. This is God's word. To remind you of what we have learned so far, let me go back over the last couple of sermons that we have heard, last couple of chapters that we have covered, and tell you where we have been, and why we are here at the point we are at this morning. Back in chapters 1 and 2, what we saw back then at the beginning was that Jesus is superior to angels, so don't drift away. Remember that? Don't drift away because Jesus is superior to the angels. In chapters 3 and 4, we learned that Jesus is superior to Moses and to Joshua, so don't harden your hearts. In chapters 5 and 6, we learned that Jesus is your perfect high priest, so therefore don't grow lazy. In chapter 7, which we looked at last week, we found out that Jesus is your better hope. So don't run away. That is, don't run away from God. Today, what I want to help us to see from Hebrews 8 and 9 is that Jesus has inaugurated a better covenant, and so don't be discouraged.
I spoke with three very discouraged people this past week. One of them was a woman who wonders if there is any hope for her marriage. Another was a guy who is a full-time vocational ministry person, works for a local ministry that will remain unnamed, but his financial supports in the tank. And the third guy spoke to was a man who has just said goodbye to his 22-year-old son, and he's experiencing the choppy unexplored waters of the empty nest for the first time in his life. And no, none of these people are attenders at UPC, but they're all discouraged. What do you think about when you're discouraged? It's a common melody, it's a common situation. What do you think about when you're discouraged? Where do you go to the refrigerator, perhaps, for another scoop of ice cream or another glass of wine? Or maybe you seek solace in your TV, or Sony PlayStation, or Netflix, or pornography, or another trip to the mall, or the gym, or do you just fold in on yourself and wallow? You know what I mean? Just wallow in your discouragement, getting more depressed and more blue with every passing minute. Maybe it's all three that you've tried from time to time. Our text this morning that I've read offers a better response to discouragement. The writer of Hebrews says basically this, if you're discouraged, and we've seen before that the people to whom he wrote the letter of Hebrews were discouraged, he says to them, he says to you, if you're discouraged, think about the new covenant. Now, you're thinking, what in the world is that? How practical is that? I don't even know what you mean by covenant. Now, the writer of Hebrews says, no, this is very practical. When you're discouraged, you ought to think about the new covenant. Well, maybe it is so unfamiliar to you that I need to do a little bit of overview. Let me give you an overview of what I'll call covenant theology. Let me talk about covenant and we need to start with a definition. What is a covenant anyway? Everybody in this room is familiar with covenants in one form or other. If you live in a subdivision, for instance, that has a homeowner's association, you're familiar with the restrictions of your homeowner's association covenants. They tell you what you can and cannot do with your house in terms of house color and furnishings outside and so on like that. If you're married, guess what? You made a covenant promise to your spouse some time ago. You said, I do or I will to a number of covenant marriage oaths. If you've ever taken out a loan, you signed a contract to pay that loan off in a certain amount of time. That contract was a covenant. So a covenant, you see, is an agreement. It's an agreement or a commitment. Ralph in his prayer talked about commitment. That's what a covenant is. A commitment that contains promises and obligations. Our catechism for young children that they memorize. Our kids learn a number of answers to questions. One of the questions is what is a covenant? The answer is it's an agreement between two or more persons. Well, that's not a terrible definition of covenant when it comes to agreements between equals. That is an agreement between you and another person or you and an institution. It's not a bad definition. But when it comes to God's covenant with us, covenant is a much richer concept. Here's a definition of covenant that I'm borrowing from one of my favorite seminary professors. A covenant is a bond in blood sovereignly administered. You say, what? I'll tell you what I mean by that. But look at that definition. A covenant is a bond in blood sovereignly administered. First, let's take that apart. It's a bond. A bond is a pledge or a promise or, like I said, a commitment to a relationship, right? Second, it's a bond in blood. That is, it's a pledge to die if that promise is broken. I remember when I was a kid, 10 years old, 12 years old, I had a friend in our neighborhood. We made a covenant, a blood covenant with each other to be covenant brothers or blood brothers. We made a little slit in our fingers and I don't know what we were thinking, but we made a slit in our fingers and put our blood on a piece of paper and said, we are pledging our lives to each other unto death. A couple of years later, I had no idea where the guy was. But a covenant as far as God's covenant with us is a bond in blood, a pledge to the death. You know what's interesting normally in the Bible when you see the words that God made a covenant with somebody? Literally, it's the word cut a covenant. The Hebrew language, God cut a covenant over and over and over again in the Bible. When a covenant is made, blood is shed to show that the bond is inviolable, unable to be violated. And if that bond is violated, somebody will have to die. God demonstrates the inviolability of his covenant in Genesis chapter 15. It's a tremendous, tremendous passage you should read sometime. Let me just give you an overview in my own words. In Genesis 15, God cuts a covenant with Abraham. And back in Bible times, when two people would make a covenant with each other, often they would take an animal, kill it, and cut it in pieces, and lay the pieces of the animal out on the ground. Now I know this sounds barbaric, but this was what they did back then. And after they laid the pieces of these animals out on the ground, the people who were entering into covenant with each other would walk in and among and around the pieces of that animal together. Thus saying to each other, friend, if I break my covenant promise with you, you can kill me just like we killed this animal. Well in Genesis 15, God says to Abraham, Abraham, I'm going to cut a covenant with you, but you're not going to walk through the pieces of these animals. He said, Abraham, I want you to take a cow and a bull and a goat and a ram and a pigeon and a dove, and I want you to kill those animals and take the pieces of those animals and spread them out on a rock. And then in a vision, Abraham saw God in the form of a smoking fire pot, flaming, moving in and among the pieces of those dead animals. God was saying to Abraham, Abraham, if I break my covenant with you, you can kill me. And so unilaterally, God was making a covenant with his child, Abraham, saying, I'm going to be faithful, true to my promise. It's a bond in blood. I will be your God, Abraham, and the God of your descendants after you. And if I'm unfaithful, I might as well die. So that's why it's called a bond in blood, a pledge to death. And you and I don't see an awful lot of examples of inviolability when it comes to promises, do we? People are so eager, it seems, to make promises that they can't keep. You might have heard the story about the woman who gave her boyfriend a picture of herself so that he could put her picture on his nightstand and look at it every single evening. On the back of that picture, she wrote this inscription, she said, my dearest Tom, I love you with all my heart. I love you more and more each day. I will love you forever and ever. I love you for all time. And underneath the inscription, she had a little PS that said, if we ever break up, I want this picture back. See, that's what we're used to. But when it comes to God's covenant with us, it's a bond in blood. He will not go back on his promises. And the third thing this definition says is it's it's it's sovereignly administered. What that means is that in the Bible, a covenant between God and us is not a covenant between equals. No, God makes a covenant with us. And we respond to his covenant initiative with faith and repentance and obedience. In fact, in Genesis 17, nine, God even calls it my covenant. It's his it's sovereignly given. It's unilaterally entered into with human beings. God pursues us in love through his covenant. God says to us, I will be your God and you will be my people. Did you notice those words in Hebrews chapter 8? I'll be your God. You will be my people. God sets the terms of his covenant. He chooses the signs of his covenant. He stipulates the conditions that we must follow if we're going to be true to his covenant. He spells out the blessings that come along to those who obey the conditions of his covenant. And he also spells out the curses that come to those who violate his covenant. We don't get a vote. A covenant is a bond in blood sovereignly administered. Does that make sense? When you look in the Bible, covenants are all over the place. I would encourage you, start looking in the Bible at the word covenant. Maybe take out your concordants sometime and just trace through all of the examples of the word covenant. The first time you see a covenant, it's in Genesis chapter 2. Now the word covenant doesn't appear in Genesis 2, but when God created man, he put him in the garden of Eden. It was a bond in blood sovereignly administered. He said to Adam, you are free to eat of all of the trees in the garden but of one. Do not eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. For in the day you eat of it, you will surely die. Theologians call that the covenant of works. It was a covenant of works because God said to Adam, you must obey this. If you don't, you will surely die of a bond in blood sovereignly administered. And of course, you know what happened. Adam and Eve did eat of the forbidden fruit. They broke covenant with God. They weren't faithful to the covenant conditions that God had established with them and it brought all of their posterity into a state of sin and death. But why didn't Adam immediately die? Why didn't God just strike Adam and Eve dead right there on the spot because they broke covenant with the Lord? Well it's because God entered into another covenant with man, a covenant called the covenant of grace. And as you look at this diagram that I've put up here on the screen, you'll notice in the Bible how the covenant of grace gradually unfolds throughout scripture. If you read Genesis chapter 3, you'll see this covenant of grace established with Adam. Instead of striking Adam and Eve dead right there in the garden of Eden, what does God do? He comes to them walking in the garden in the cool of the day. God pursues sinful human beings, even as early as Genesis 3. Adam and Eve hid from God in shame because they didn't want to be seen in their sin but God spoke to them and said, where are you? See he's seeking them through the covenant of grace. Adam and Eve had to suffer the consequences of their sin but God made garments of animal skin out of animals for Adam and Eve to cover their nakedness and shame. God cut, in other words, a covenant with fallen man, the covenant of grace. He didn't reject them but instead he pursued them in mercy and grace and called them to be his ambassadors to a sinful world. At beginning with Genesis 3, throughout the scriptures, you can see this covenant of grace gradually enlarging and unfolding through human history, through some of the key figures that you read about in the Bible. For example, there's Noah and then there's Moses, the covenant of law. Oh, I skipped Abraham, of course, Noah and then Abraham and then Moses and then David. All of those people represent what you would call the old covenant and you'll understand why in just a little while. But then in Luke chapter 22, something amazing happens. It's still the covenant of grace but in Luke 22, Jesus is sitting around his last supper with his disciples. And it says in that chapter that Jesus took bread and gave thanks and broke it and gave it to the disciples saying, this is my body which is for you, take and eat, do it in remembrance of me. And then it says that in the same way, after the supper, he took the cup and he said, this cup is the new covenant. The new covenant in my blood that has been poured out for you. See, Jesus inaugurated a new covenant that builds upon the old covenant. It's still within the rubric of the covenant of grace in which God is pursuing human beings who are running the other way and who are his enemies. He is pursuing them now through in our day, Jesus Christ in terms of the new covenant. Now, when you read Hebrews chapter 8, the author assumes that all of his recipients understood all that. All of the people who received this letter that he wrote originally, they knew all this. They were well schooled in the teachings of the Old Testament, what we call the Old Testament. They understood covenant. They understood bond and blood, sovereignly administered. And what happens in Hebrews chapter 8 is that the author is saying, now look, considering that you understand the old covenant, why do you want to go back there? And in chapters 8 and 9 of Hebrews, he wants to compare and contrast the old covenant with the new. Now, what I'd like to do is show you how he does that. And time being what it is, I can't go back and show you verse after verse after verse. Instead, I'm going to challenge you to just look at this chart and follow me as I talk you through it. And then when you go back home today, perhaps you can read through Hebrews 8 and 9 and see how these things come to pass. But the old covenant, he contrasts to the new. For example, in the first place, he talks about in chapter 8 that the old covenant had this earthly temple and human priests. But the new covenant has a true temple served by Jesus who is the supreme priest, the superior priest. The old covenant was a copy and a shadow. The new covenant is the reality and the pattern. The old covenant had human mediators like Moses and Abraham and David and so on. But the new covenant has Jesus as the supreme mediator. The old covenant was obsolete, fading away. But the new covenant is new and everlasting, then change. The old covenant was ruined by people's disobedience. But the new covenant is secured forever by Christ's obedience. The old covenant was powerless to clear the conscience and the new covenant penetrates into the conscience and clears the feeling of guilt and shame. The old covenant consisted of a temporary cleansing of sin through the repetitive sacrifice of animals. And the new covenant consists of an eternal cleansing of sin by the ones for all sacrifice of Jesus. The old covenant it consisted of outward cleansing of the body. But the new covenant consists of inward cleansing of the heart. The old covenant was based on the law code written on tablets of stone. But the new covenant is the law written on the heart. The old covenant people had to keep a distance from God. Whereas the new covenant people have intimate access to God. So in summary, what the author of Hebrews is saying is that the old covenant consists of bondage and guilt and shame. But the new covenant looks like freedom, forgiveness and redemption. Now as we look at that comparison and that contrast, I don't want you to make a key mistake. And the key mistake that some people make is to think that the old covenant is bad and the new covenant is good. Now that's not how it works. The old covenant was not bad. It served a very important purpose of leading people to Jesus, of helping people understand their need of a Savior, of helping them see that they're sinful. So the old covenant was not bad. It was good. But the new covenant is far, far better. Perhaps you could think of the difference between good and better in this sense. Tomorrow's Valentine's Day. Guys, how many of you are going to give your sweetheart a picture of a dozen roses? Now a picture of a dozen roses is not a bad picture, but a dozen roses is a far, far better thing to give your sweetheart. How would you like me to give you a picture of a candy bar? Well, it's a good picture. But I think you would prefer a real candy bar. And that's what I'm going to give the kids during my children's sermon at the second hour. Or how many of you would like me to give you the sheet music to your favorite song? Well, if you play piano, that's not so bad. But isn't it better to give you the CD? In fact, isn't it even far better than that to offer you tickets to the concert of your favorite artist singing that favorite song? See, that's the new covenant. The new covenant is the CD or the concert. The new covenant is the dozen roses. The new covenant is the candy bar. The old covenant is a picture, a copy, a shadow, a foretaste, maybe a little bitty glimpse. And so why would you? Why would I? Why would the people who received this letter in the first place want to go back to living a life under simply pictures? Why would you accept simply a shadow of the real thing? Why not have the real thing? Why not have the new covenant? See, that's the argument of the author of Hebrews. Well, all of that that I've just gone over is stuff you need to know. And if you're going to really get at the heart of Hebrews 8 and 9 and understand what's going on. But you know what? I think some of you are saying to yourself right now if you haven't already lost your train of thought. Some of you are thinking, okay, I get it. I guess I understand what this is all about. I understand old news, et cetera. But so what? What difference does that make to me? Does this have any relevance to my situation, my discouragement? Yeah, it has everything to do with your situation and your discouragement. Because you and I could take that same chart and just change the words a little bit and come out with the exact same moral the story. So let me do that for you. Let me do that with you. Let's go back and look at old covenant versus new covenant thinking in terms of your situation and mine. For example, if you think in terms of the old covenant, if you live under the old covenant type of Christianity, here are some thoughts that you might be thinking. One is there's something more that I must do to be acceptable to God. Now, new covenant thinking says everything I need to be accepted by God has already been done for me by Jesus. See the difference between old and new? If you're caught up in old covenant thinking as a Christian, here's something you might think. I need a human teacher or pastor or mentor or professor or coach or disciple or something like that to tell me what the Bible means. But if you're thinking new covenant type thinking, you're thinking this, why is there Christians? They can't help me. Yes, but God speaks to me through his word and his Holy Spirit helps me to understand it. See the difference between old and new? Another possibility. If you think old covenant thinking, you thinking something like this, I meet with God on Sunday mornings in a building called a church. That's old covenant thinking. New covenant thinking says corporate worship is vitally important. You can't do without it. You need church. Yes, it's vitally important, but I can commune with God anytime anywhere because of Jesus. Somebody who is trapped in old covenant thinking, let's go to the next one, says I need new emotional experiences, dramatic answers to prayer, victories, signs and wonders and so on to prop up my faith and convince me of God's love. But if you're a new covenant thinker, you think this way. No, God's covenant love for me as displayed on the cross and in the empty tomb. That's always new and it's all I need as evidence that God cares for me. Another example. If you think old covenant kind of thoughts, you say to yourself often, my disobedience frustrates God and he will one day reject me because of it. He will one day give up on me. No, the new covenant says, my salvation is secure because of Jesus' obedience on my behalf. Another example. If you think old covenant ways, you think something like this. When I disobey, God is angry with me and it'll take a while to get back in his good graces. You ever think that way? If you're thinking in terms of the new covenant, here's what you think. When I disobey God's heart breaks for me because he wants me to be holy and grow. But even when I sin, God loves me as much as ever and ironically enough, it's because I know that that I will actually grow more obedient. Does that make sense? If you think in terms of the old covenant, here's something else you might be thinking. There's no way God can see me as anything but a guilty, miserable center. Not true. No, the new covenant says there's no way God sees me as anything but a saint. Yes, I still sin, but he rejoices over me and is glad to call me his son or his daughter. If you think in terms of old covenant, here's another idea. You often think this way, if I could only be more disciplined with my Bible reading and prayer. How many of us spend energy feeling that way all the time? If I could only do better, if I could only be more self-controlled, if I could only stop doing this and start doing that. You know what a new covenant thinker says? If the gospel could just sink deeper into the core of my being. See the more understand the gospel, the good news, those things will come, okay? If you're an old covenant thinker, here's something else you might be thinking. If I can stop doing bad things, I'll get holier. Okay, though less true. But if you're thinking by the new covenant way of thought, here's what you think. I'm already perfectly righteous in Christ. The more I believe this and the more I walk in humble dependence upon the Holy Spirit, the more He will transform me from the inside out. Which way describes you? Here's another example. My failures and my sins show how poorly I'm doing as a Christian. But if you're controlled by the new covenant way of thinking, here's what you think. Jesus meets me at the point of failure. His perfect life has become mine on behalf of me because of faith. If you're thinking in terms of the old covenant, here's another example. God's love for me is based on my performance. Is that true? No? Because you know the new covenant. It says God's love for me is based on Jesus' performance on my behalf. Another example, I'm sorry I'm going on and on, but I want to make sure you get this. Another example, if you think in terms of the old covenant, one day I hope to be in God's inner circle. But if you believe the new covenant, you say I'm already in God's inner circle because Jesus lived, died and rose again for me. Another example, it's all up to me, old covenant. No? By the power of the Spirit who lives inside me, I can partner with God in his work of changing me into the image of Jesus. That's new covenant. Another example, the Christian life is too hard. I'll never be able to do it. That's old covenant. New covenant says, and I'm borrowing this from something that John Bunion once said, John Bunion, author of Pilgrim's Progress, back in the 1600s. He wrote this little poem. I hope you'll remember it. He said, run, John, run the law commands, but gives us neither feet nor hands. Far better news the gospel brings. It bids us fly and gives us wings. See Bunion knew what we're talking about today. That's far better than old covenant ways of thinking. What do we have in conclusion on this little chart here? We have on the left side, bondage, guilt and shame. You know what? Many Christians live that way all their lives. Always in bondage to the two do's and the odds and the wish I could and I've got to try better, guilt, shame, etc. But if you believe what Hebrews is teaching us about the better covenant, you have freedom, forgiveness and redemption and you live in the light of that always. And the author of Hebrews and I want to say to us, why would you go to the left side of this chart? Why would you live there when you can have the right side because of the new covenant? Jesus has inaugurated. Well, I've got to wrap up. But let me give you three takeaways, three takeaways. And I hope some of the stuff I've just given you will be your takeaway. But I want to give you three things. First of all, because of the new covenant, you can be content. You can be content. Why? Because the new covenant says that you have nothing to prove. Christian, you have nothing to prove. The only person in the universe who really matters has said to you, I am yours and you are mine. God has done everything for you. The only thing he asks in return is that you meet the conditions of his covenant. And what are those conditions? Do what God says to do. Go where God says to go. Obey him. Will you sin and mess up? Absolutely. But when you do, what do you do? You go to the cross. And you say, Jesus, thank you that you died for people like me. And you constantly abide in Jesus and depend upon the Holy Spirit. Don't try to live life on your own, living under the sunshine of the new covenant will help you be content. Second, because of the new covenant, you can be compassionate. You can be compassionate. Why? Because you have been loved with an everlasting love. You have been pursued by the God of the universe. Here's a thought. If you're a believer in Jesus, God is not just your Facebook friend. You know, I've got a ton of people listed on my Facebook page as friends. Half of them, I don't even know. God's not just your Facebook friend. He is your maker, defender, redeemer, and friend with a capital F because of Jesus. And third, not only can you be content and compassionate, but you can be courageous. You don't have to fear anything or anybody. Why? Because you're secure. Secure in Christ. The promise of the covenant is, I'll be your God and He will be my people. God will never leave you or forsake you. He will be true to His covenant promises. Like I said, last week, nothing you do right will make him love you more. Nothing you do wrong will make God love you less. So the lesson of this third one is, go live boldly. As Dr. Laura used to say, go take on the day. You don't have anything to fear. Give more than you think you can. Go out on limb. Talk to your unbelieving neighbor. Full flat on your face and failure if you have to. God will pick you up. He won't be mad. God is fully committed to you so that you can be fully, fearlessly, courageously committed to Him. Are you discouraged this morning? If so, think about the new covenant. Let's pray. Father, thank you for sending Jesus. Thank you that you have given to us. Not a covenant of works that we must fulfill, but a covenant of grace built upon works that you have fulfilled through Jesus. And so, Father, we pray that you will enable us to believe this good news, to believe it and to live in light of it, to remember that Jesus has inaugurated a new covenant with His people. And so, please, Lord, teach us through the new covenant promises, to be content, to be compassionate and to be courageous. And we ask these things in Jesus' name. Amen.